Savvy Ladies Community

Can’t Do It All? Your Top 5 Financial Priorities

I can’t sleep at night, complained a savvy lady over breakfast last week. Seeing the dark circles under her eyes, I didn’t doubt it was true. A venti caramel macchiato later, she explained that at age thirty-six, she had only recently started to look into personal finance. Now, she felt so bombarded with should-haves that she had no idea where to start.

She has a good point. Even during slow, quiet periods of our lives, it can be difficult to keep up with everything financial. And when things turn crazy, like they do from time to time, it can be near impossible. Fortunately, there’s relief. See below for a list of your top five financial priorities – in order.

1. Pay your bills – preferably on time. Make sure they are no larger than your income, and if they are, make it your very first priority to cut your spending and/or boost your income. When your accounts payables and accounts receivables match and you are no longer struggling to make ends meet, take a breather and give yourself a pat on the shoulder.
2. Create a financial cushion for yourself. Even as little as a few hundred bucks can have a dramatic impact on your shut-eye. Even better – you will save a bundle on late fees, financing charges, bounced check fees, etc.
3. Start saving for retirement, even if the amount you can spare is so tiny, you can’t see how on Earth it’s supposed to make a difference. You see, not only do the dollars you set aside first matter the most as they have the longest time to grow, but you get yourself into the habit of saving – which is, as MasterCard likes to put it, priceless.
4. Pay off your worst kinds of debt, such as high-interest balances and debt where the lender can change the loan terms easily.
5. Look into long-term disability insurance. This is may not be the rosiest of topics, but life is dangerous and you need to make sure that even if you do lose your ability to work, you’ll have food on the table.

Now, take a break. Really, you have taken the five most important steps toward financial success.

 

Stacy Francis, Savvy Ladies

www.savvyladies.com

GEN X & GEN Y – DIALING FINANCIAL 911

By Manisha Thakor

 

Six Reasons Why Gen X & Gen Y Need Some Serious Financial TLC  

• They’re scared: They’ve entered their adult years during a gut-wrenching economic and job market.  With unemployment over 9.5%, they’ve seen their parents struggle.  Over 7 out of 10 Americans are now living paycheck-to-paycheck.
• They are making poor decisions: As a result of that fear they are not making the best long-term decisions for their futures. A recent ICI study shows only 34% of investors under age 35 are willing to take substantial risk with their retirement money – the exact time in their lives when they should take that risk.
• Something as “simple” as a 20-year head start can give you 5x more money: Let’s take 2 people.  Jane starts saving $5,000 a year at age 25 for her retirement every year until age 65 and gets an average return of 7%.  Jane has a $1 million nest egg by retirement. Joe starts saving $5,000 a year at age 45 for retirement every year until age 65 and also gets an average return of 7%. Joe has $200,000 in his next egg. That 20-year head start gave Jane 5x more money. That’s why learning the basics of personal finance – how to budget, get out of debt, and save so you can get that retirement fund funded in the key early years is so vital.
• Young adults consume information differently so there’s a delivery challenge when it comes to education: Studies shows that young adults want their financial education delivered in a 21st Century way. They want it web-based with robust, interactive tools. And unlike their “I’ll do it myself” parents, these emerging adults want help and guidance.
• Nearly half of Gen Y has below average financial fluency: A study by The National Foundation for Credit Counseling showed that nearly half of this generation did not understand how to save and budget and that 45% of them have no savings!
• The financial world is geometrically more complex: Part of the reason for the above statistic is due to the fact that financial literacy is not taught in schools as a core life skill.  Young adults often rely on parents who were brought up in “financially simpler” times and aren’t equipped to help. They are also bombarded by so many more unrealistic media images about what “normal” lives are like.

 

So, what’s the solution?

If you or someone you love is a Gen X or Gen Y-er… encourage them to self-educate.  Here are five of my favorite personal finance sites – all of which I’ve either written for or read regularly myself:

• For everyone:  GetCurrency.com & SmartAboutMoney.org
• For women:  LearnVest.com and DailyWorth.com
• For men: IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com

What about you – any additional resources to recommend to Gen X & Gen Y?

 

 

Want more financial love? You can follow Manisha on Twitter at @ManishaThakor and sign up for her email updates here. Starting in Fall 2010, Manisha will teach an innovative online course on "Financial Literacy 101" for women though www.Sympoz.com. Manisha Thakor, personal finance expert for women, can be reached via her website, www.ManishaThakor.com.

Shocking Statistics on Women & Retirement

By Manisha Thakor

 

 

Do you ever worry about ending up old and poor?

 

For many women, becoming the proverbial "bag lady under the bridge" is one of their worst nightmares. Myself included. I literally sit down with my husband and our financial planner twice a year to re-confirm that we are doing everything we can to make sure we do not outlive our retirement savings!

 Unfortunately, this fear of ending up old and poor is actually a very rational one for a high percentage of women. 

Recently, I had the chance to hear Karen Wimbish, Head of Wells Fargo Retail Retirement Group, and personal finance guru Jean Chatzky present powerful data collected in a Harris Interactive poll in conjunction with the launch of a new website to help women prepare for retirement, Beyond Today. I'm always looking for useful resources to direct women to, and I think this site can help a lot of folks.

First up, the data: (Put your seatbelts on. The numbers are stark.)                

• Nearly 1/3 of women between the ages of 40 and 69 are “can’t estimate” how much money they can withdraw annually from their retirement accounts and about 32% of women in their 40s and 50s estimate they will withdraw between 11% – 30% of their savings annually.   These are unrealistically high annual withdrawal rates - leaving them vulnerable to outliving their savings.
• While both men and women are under saved for their retirements, the women polled had saved less than men - with a median retirement savings accumulated to date of $20,000 for women surveyed versus $25,000 for men.
• Worse still, despite longer expected life spans, when asked how much they were aiming for in retirement savings women aimed lower with a median goal of $200,000 versus $400,000 for men.

    A savvy, 30-year industry veteran, Karen was kind enough to speak with me about some of the factors driving this dreary data - and what women can do to improve the odds that their golden years really will be golden. 

    A couple of key themes kept coming up during out chart. First, while many women are absolutely at the table on a day-to-day basis for bill payment and major household expenditures, when it comes to financial planning or investing – women are more likely to report ourselves as a “joint decision maker” than are married men who are asked this question.  Men are more likely to see themselves as “the primary“ decision maker in financial matters – so there is a disconnect between men and women in terms of the role they see themselves playing.  The survey data also showed women to have less confidence in the stock market as a long-term tool for retirement planning.

What does all this potentially mind-numbing data mean for your life? 

• If you are in your 20s and 30s: The best action step is to max out your tax advantaged retirement plans (401k type plans and IRAs). Karen points out a great way to do this is to commit to saving a set percentage of your income, rather than a fixed dollar amount, so as your income rises, so too do your contributions.
• If you are in your 40s: That data shows that this group, which I'm a part of, are the most stressed-out set, sandwiched between entering our peak earnings years while trying to juggle family and elder care responsibilities. In this life stage, the key action step is not to put our heads in the financial sands.
• If you are in your 50s, and 60s: You are heading into the "red zone" the critical years leading up to retirement where small shifts in how much you save and what you invest in can make the difference. Understanding the gravity of this period is key.

 

The key takeaway:  At all three stages making sure you are actively engaged with your finances and seeking to self-educate yourself is key. Reading blogs, visiting websites like Beyond Today, and engaging the services of a trusted financial advisor to meet with you on an annual or semi-annual basis can go a VERY long way towards increasing your financial confidence, sense of optimism for the future, and even household harmony.  Just as with your health, no one will ever care about your financial fitness as much as you do.

 

What steps are you taking right now to plan for your retirement?  

 

[This post originally appeared at ManishaThakor.com.] Want more financial love? You can follow Women's Financial Literacy Initiative founder, Manisha Thakor, on Twitter at @ManishaThakor, sign up to get her email updates delivered right to your inbox here, and enroll in her innovative new online personal finance course called “Money Rules.”

Money Talk for Couples

Recently I was interviewed for a story in the New York Times that focused on “money talk” for couples.  I received so much great feedback on the story that I felt compelled to address it here.

The article opens up by saying…”One of the most difficult conversations a couple can have is not about love or commitment. It is about money — how it is saved and invested and what it means for their lifestyle.”

 

Do you agree? 

I do.  Why?  I hear it practically every time I give a talk to women and open it up for Q&As.  The questions usually sound something like this:  How do I start a conversation with my husband about money?  How do I ask my partner to see our finances without having him feel like I don’t trust him?  How do we have a conversation without fighting?

Three words here…. communicate, communicate, communicate. Sounds simple, right?  But as we all know “communicate” is not always simple – especially when it comes to money. You’d be surprised (or perhaps you wouldn’t be) by how many people don’t know how much their spouse is making.  Generally, the problem is due to the highly emotional feelings (self worth, self esteem, power, control etc) and unresolved issues with money each partner brings to the table.

So sit back and have a think.  What does money mean to you?  How does your upbringing and past experiences affect your money attitudes?  What stops you from having these conversations – fear? interest? knowledge? lack of ownership? bigger relationship problems?

Having these initial conversations may not be easy but if you don’t have them you have a high chance of becoming part of the “if only” club.  You may not know what the “if only” club is, but I am sure you know someone (dare I say more than one) who is a member.  Do you have any friends, neighbors or family who were not involved in managing their finances only to find out in times of crisis that their husband was an overly aggressive investor, or he was loaned up to the hilt, or not saving for retirement, or not protecting the family from death or disability and so on and so on.  What do you think are the first words out of these women’s mouths?  Yep, you guessed it …if only I knew he was (fill in the blank), I would have (fill in the blank.) These scenarios break my heart, because they often result in unfortunate outcomes that could have been avoided or at least mitigated, if they were only talked about. 

Therefore, the question I have for you today is this:  Will you be willing to bear some discomfort today to learn whether or not your future is on a path that will give you the greatest probability of success?   As the saying goes…”just do it”

 

Susan Hirshman, CFA, CPA, CFP,

SHE Ltd

http://www.facebook.com/MyFatAssets

www.myfatassets.com

Do Money Books For Women Hurt Women?

By Manisha Thakor

 

What do you think...

• Do personal finance books written by women for women perpetuate the myth that women are bad with money?
• Why is there a "money management for women" section but no "money management for men" section at Amazon and other booksellers?
• What's up with all the diet analogies in these books - could they be any more demeaning?

A recent Slate article entitled "The Shopaholic Myth" and follow up piece at GetRichSlowly called "Women and Money: Slaying Stereotypes and Facing Reality" raised these very important questions. As a 40-something woman who co-authored two personal finance books for women, those questions hit me smack in the gut. These well-written articles (by two journalists I very much admire) forced me to think long and hard about whether my focus on financial literacy for women... was actually hurting women.

My conclusion: With the exception of age-based asset allocation guidelines (where I feel women should invest their retirement funds slightly more aggressively than men to prepare for statistically longer life spans), I'd argue that the fundamentals of personal finance 101 are identical for women and men. The reluctance of some younger women (notably in their 20s and 30s) to read female-oriented finance books is in a sense a victory for the equality movement. So here are the reasons why I still support personal finance books by women for women (if you prefer video, you can watch me discussing this topic on ABC News Now by clicking here.)

1. Women are not worse than men with money. Poor personal finance skills are rampant across gender lines. Why? The financial landscape has increased geometrically in its complexity over the past 20 years while financial education has not kept up. We all can use help.
2. But modern life still has a tendency to spit in women's eyes as their career paths progress. The twin combinations of what economists call "occupational segregation" (the tendency of women to voluntarily choose to work in less remunerative fields) combined with the time commitments of child rearing and elder care (which lead to women spending an average of 11 more years than men out of the paid workforce) mean learning financial basics are all the more essential for women. It also means we need more dialogue on these areas of inequality...
3. The default language of finance is still male. As Nicholas Kristoff pointed out... our financial system might be in a very different (and better) place had it been Lehman Sisters instead of Lehman Brothers. As someone who worked in the financial services world for 15 years, I'd argue the reason there is no "money management for men" section at Amazon is that "male" is still the default speak of the industry. Personally, I'm not interested in talking about my personal finances through the lens of football or golf metaphors nor do I want to socialize over cigars and scotch (well, I'd drink the scotch...). Thanks to pioneers ranging from Women & Co. and Directions for Women to DailyWorth and LearnVest - there are more organizations focusing on the way in which women enjoy learning and digesting the very same personal finance information as men. As for the prevalence of dieting analogies - personally I just think that's smart. The equation for financial and physical health is identical (inflows vs. outflows). We all eat, we all spend money... so why not compare the two? As Occam's Razor suggests, when faced with choice the simpler the path the better the outcome. 

 

How do you feel about personal finance books written by women for women?

[This post originally appeared at ManishaThakor.com.] Want more financial love? You can follow Women's Financial Literacy Initiative founder, Manisha Thakor, on Twitter at @ManishaThakor, sign up to get her email updates delivered right to your inbox here, and enroll in her innovative new online personal finance course called “Money Rules.”  

Ladies, Should You Ask For It?

by Manisha Thakor

 

 

Quick - what was the first thing that came to your mind when you read the title of this post?

 

What about "Gentleman, should you ask for it?" Would this change your response? For many people the female-oriented title raises sexual connotations while the male-oriented iteration conjures thoughts of money and power. 

 

For the record, in both cases I am talking about asking for raises at work. This is a subject that has long made my stomach churn.  As a natural people-pleaser-and-avoider-of-conflict, I've preferred to work hard and hope my results will speak loudly for themselves. Turns out I'm not alone in this.

 

Recently I talked with Carnegie Mellon Professor Linda Babcock, coauthor of "Women Don't Ask" and "Ask For It," two fantastic books on why and how working women should negotiate salaries.  (Professor Babcock is also very involved with motivating young girls. Thanks to her, the Girl Scouts now have a badge for negotiation skills).  Here are two of the many eye-popping statistics from Professor Babcock's work:

 

·         Avoiding negotiating your first salary can cost you $500,000 by age 60 (oh, and men negotiate their first salaries 4x more often than women).

·         Women who consistently negotiate their salaries throughout their careers typically earn $1 million more in lifetime career earnings than women who don't.

 

So what motivates negotiators? Locus of control. Professor Babcock observes that people who negotiate tend to have a worldview that is more "optimistic than fatalistic, malleable versus fixed." Psychologists have noted that men consistently - across countries - have a higher propensity to see "the world as their oyster" than women.  Ergo, more men negotiate than women.

 

Alas, her research also shows that, "Men can behave anyway they want when they negotiate, but people have a strong preference for how women negotiate. Direct and aggressive doesn't work." For women a "more cooperative and relationship oriented" approach tends to be more effective.  When women adopt a bold can-do attitude they are often met with a "visceral reaction to strong women" and perceived as being not nice. Clearly, for women to achieve lasting pay parity, this has to change... but that's a whole 'nother topic.

 

Let's get back to how this discussion can improve your life now.

 

This gut-wrenching economic environment may not seem the obvious one in which to rock the boat. But it's also an environment when employers can't afford to lose their best people. An innovative new website called GetRaised.com can help you make the most of your current situation.  With a few mouse clicks it will tell you if you are underpaid and for an additional $20 it will prepare a custom raise request that you can use to negotiate.  If you don't get a raise in 6 months you'll get your $20 back.  The company currently pegs the average raise received by users at $3,078. Not a bad return on $20.

 

What about you?  Have you ever asked for a raise and if so, how did it go?

 

 

Want more financial love? You can follow Manisha on Twitter at @ManishaThakor, sign up to get her email updates delivered right to your inbox here, and enroll in her innovative new online personal finance course called “Money Rules.”  Founder of the Women’s Financial Literacy Initiative, Manisha can be reached via her website: http://www.ManishaThakor.com.

4 Ways Healthcare Reform Will Affect Your FSA

by Manisha Thakor

 

'Tis the season... for open enrollment.

Open enrollment is the annual window where you can sign up for valuable employee benefits such as a Flexible Spending Account ("FSA"). If you work for an employer offering this benefit, trust me.  You want to keep reading.  As a self-employed person not eligible for this benefit right now - I'm here to tell you an FSA is nothing to sneeze at.  Back when I was in corporate America I didn't appreciate FSAs enough - and  want to make sure you don't make that same mistake.

FSAs are a great way to plump up YOUR bottom line by enabling you to pay for necessary out-of-pocket medical expenses with pre-tax dollars. As a result, when you sign up for an FSA, you can save up to 40 percent on expenditures that you are going to make anyway. This year, healthcare reform has brought about some changes to FSAs.  To help current and prospective FSA users prepare for open enrollment, I've teamed up with Wage Works on a "Save Smart, Spend Healthy Campaign" to spread the word about what you need to know to make the best choices for you and your family.

 

Here are four key differences from last year that you should know about when planning how much to contribute to your FSA account:

 

1. OTC Medicines Are Still Covered... But You Will Need A Prescription. When there is change, there is often confusion. A number of news stories have inaccurately reported that the IRS is no longer allowing over-the-counter (OTC) medications to be paid for with FSA funds. Thankfully, this is incorrect. The truth is that starting January 1, 2011 OTC medications (excluding insulin) will require a doctor's prescription in order to be paid for with FSA funds. Note: the key word here is "medicines." Other non-medicinal OTC items such as band-aids, crutches and diagnostic kits can still be paid for with FSA dollars prescription-free. The easiest way to prepare for the new rule around OTC medications is simply to have a frank dialogue with your doctor at your next annual exam and get the necessary paperwork (specifically, a prescription) in advance for things like allergy medicine or pain relief capsules.

2. Contribution Caps Are Coming... So Plan Today For Elective Procedures. Starting in 2013, annual contributions to FSA accounts will be capped at $2,500. (Right now contribution caps are set by individual employers, and tend to average around $5,000). If you've been contemplating an elective procedure for you or a qualified family member - such as LASIK or braces - 2011 and 2012 are the last two years in which to set aside and use extra funds in your FSA. Remember, a payment made with FSA dollars is akin to getting a discount of up to 40 percent off since you are paying with pre-tax dollars. So it's really worth it to make an estimate of your FSA eligible expenses for the coming year and sign up to contribute that amount into your account.

3. Adult Children Get A Helping Hand... Under Certain Circumstances. Thanks to healthcare reform your adult children can stay on your healthcare policy up to age 26 - as long as they are not offered coverage by their employer. Now is a great time to check in with your entire family and see who might need coverage and/or whether any of your adult children qualify as dependents. Note: some firms will allow mid-year FSA contributions to reflect the addition of adult children so check with your HR department about their policies on qualifying events.

4. "Free" Preventative Care... Means Some Costs Will Go Away. Last but not least, routine screening for blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol may no longer require a co-pay. Other cancer screenings like mammograms and colonoscopies as well a pre-natal care visits, vaccinations, and routine infant and childcare checkups may also be provided as part of your baseline insurance - thus requiring no additional out-of-pocket cost. If you had previously used your FSA to pay for these expenses, you can pare back here.

Ultimately, spending a little bit of time understanding how healthcare reform may change the amount you choose to contribute to your FSA for 2011 is an investment that you won't regret.

 

 

Want more financial love? You can follow Manisha on Twitter at @ManishaThakor, sign up to receive her weekly blog posts here and enroll in her innovative online personal finance course called "Money Rules."  Founder of the Women's Financial Literacy Initiative, Manisha can be reached via her website: www.ManishaThakor.com.  

Daring To Be Ourselves... Financially

By Manisha Thakor

 

 

Do you have enough money?

 

Last week I wrote about the high cost to women of not speaking up for ourselves financially in the workplace.  One statistic from that piece keeps floating through my head like the Goodyear blimp:  Women who consistently negotiate their salaries throughout their careers earn $1 million more over their work lives than women who do not.

 

This struck me for two reasons.  First, during my 15 years in corporate America I never once asked for a raise.  Why?  When I'm 100% honest with myself it's that I was afraid to "Just Do It" as the Nike commercial says. I didn't want to sound pushy, greedy, or heaven forbid:  "Not. Nice."  Second, 57 women were kind enough to take a short survey I put together about their feelings around money.  By far the number one phrase that popped up was "not enough money."  Some of it was frustration about not having enough money right now due to job loss, health issues, lack of understanding about personal finance and/or poor spending habits.  Some of it was fear around not having enough money in retirement.  But over and over that same phrase, "not enough money," kept coming up.  So I asked myself to what degree our fear about not having enough money and ending up old and poor can be transformed by our own actions.

 

For inspiration, I decided to turn to Feminist.com founder Marianne Schnall's inspiring new book, Daring To Be Ourselves: influential women share insights on courage, happiness and finding your own voice.  Schnall's book is a delightful compendium of quotes from women ranging from Maya Angelou to Madeleine Albright to Margaret Cho.  While these insights extend to broader issues, I find that they can also be applied to money.  For example, if you are feeling like you don't have "enough money" and that the root cause might be that you are not speaking up in the workplace and/or daring to be yourself financially, here are a few of my favorite abbreviated snippets from Daring To Be Ourselves to use as money mantras:

 

"... no matter how hard it is to do it, it's harder not to do it.  Then you're stuck with wondering, 'What if I had said...?' 'What if I had done...?'  -Gloria Steinem

 

"Get over the feeling that the two words don't go together - women and power... We have to own our personal power..." - Jane Fonda

 

"Stop living your life as if you're going to be rescued... and you will transform whatever pain is inside you. " -Eve Ensler

 

What about you - do you have any money mantras that help you speak up and own your financial power?

 

Want more financial love? You can follow Manisha on Twitter at @ManishaThakor, sign up to get her email updates delivered right to your inbox here, and enroll in her innovative new online personal finance course called “Money Rules.”  Founder of the Women’s Financial Literacy Initiative, Manisha can be reached via her website: http://www.ManishaThakor.com.

Did Chelsea Have the Talk Before She Did the Walk?

By Susan Hirshman

 

Even if you were busy watching "Jersey Shore" or immersed in this season's must-have beach read, you know Chelsea Clinton got married this past July.  She married Mark Mezvinsky who has a successful Wall Street career.

We heard all about the dress, her makeup, the food and the guests, but we didn’t hear anything about one of the most important aspects of any wedding – Money.  Did they have the “talk” prior to getting married, is what I would like to know.  By “the talk,” I mean how is their wealth going to be handled?

Are they going to have what’s mine is mine and what's yours is yours? Or are they going to co-mingle their assets?  Or perhaps they'll find a place somewhere in the middle – a yours, mine and ours approach. 

Which do you think is the right answer?  Well, that’s a trick question, because there is no right answer here.  The right answer is the one that best fits the relationship, family dynamics and financial situation.  In reality, this can be summed up in two words:  power and control. 

How much control of your assets are you willing to give up?  None?  All?  Some? For example, if you put your money in a joint checking account you are giving up a lot of control.  Why? Because once you put assets in joint name you both have rights to it; meaning that your spouse can, without you being aware or being there, withdraw all of the money from the checking account and use it as he wishes.   So let's briefly look at the three aforementioned factors – relationship, family and financial situation and ask yourself how they affect your need for a degree of control.

First:  Relationship.  What has been your history?  Are you fighters or lovers?  Will you always be that way? I hate to be Debbie Downer, but we all know the statistics – 50% of marriages end in divorce.  So do you want all your money to be co-mingled or would you have a joint account along with your own private account? 

Next:  Family dynamics.  Are there yours, mine and ours children?  Is he not your first husband (or are you not his first wife?).  If you co-mingle all your assets and there are separate families, it often causes great strife between one side and the other.  For example, if your children think that your new husband is spending their inheritance, it tends not to be a pretty picture.

Last, but not least is your financial situation.  Is one spouse wealthier than the other?  Does one spouse spend more than the other?  If you work, will you continue to do so after you get married and start having children? 

The bottom line is this:  the only one who can decide what is right for you is….well you.  It’s your money and your future.  

 

Susan Hirshman, CFA, CPA, CFP,

SHE Ltd

http://www.facebook.com/MyFatAssets

www.myfatassets.com

 

Happy New Year – 2011 THE YEAR OF INTENTION

Welcome 2011!

As we begin the new year, now's a great time to:

1. Wipe the slate clean.

2. Focus upon what you really want.

3. Chart your course, financially and otherwise.

Right?

 

Well... only if you want to risk having to repeat these steps for the same wishes next year! Maybe this is splitting hairs, but here's an intentional alternative:

1. Give thanks that life is... just as it is (and that it's been... just as it's been). Because of it, you're now "READY."

 

2. Define what you want in terms of the end result. Don't worry about the hows, or even the course. KNOW that what you want is ALREADY yours in spirit, by divine LAW, just focus on the certainty of this ownership, understand it, claim it, and "it will be on earth, as it is in heaven (spirit)."  Be specific about the outcomes and THINK BIG! That is don’t simply say you want “more money”, get specific, if you want to catch up your 401K contributions – what is the amount?  Do you want to invest 500.00 more per month or save a total of 5,000.00 each quarter?

3. LET THE UNIVERSE show you the way via your impulses and instincts that appear as you take inspired action. Don't worry that your first steps seem silly or futile. And if you don't know what to do, do anything except consider working with a financial planner, attend a Savvy ladies financial course online and or identify a qualified life or career coach to get the clarity and support you need!

 

Go! Get busy! Do not insist on intermediary successes, only upon the end result.  

 

Whether your focus is financial fitness, career fitness, or health fitness…Set the intention for tomorrow TODAY!

 

Contributing Blog Author:

Janet Wise, Founder: The Collaborative Factor ™ has a Masters Degree in HR Development, and is a successful corporate Learning & Development expert responsible for designing, leading and managing global leadership development programs at Fortune 500 companies, with more than fifteen years experience helping top corporate executives become more effective in their business and personal lives.   The Collaborative Factor ™ is NYC based, on-line networking community, for corporate professionals, women interested in starting their own business, AND open to all women inspired to seek excellence.  Working with select, forward thinking organizations and not-for-profits, as collaborative advisor; offering custom-designed programs, facilitated networking events and personal development programs, in a unique format that encourages collaboration.  To explore how collaboration can enhance your success, visit www.collaborativefactor.com